Kamen Rider Ryuki Review: The Start Of A Journey

You're probably wondering about that title...well, it actually has nothing to do with the show. It has everything to do with me since this was the toku show that I consider to be my official entry point into the tokusatsu fandom. Sure, I had seen Dragon Knight before-hand and I've been a Power Rangers fan my entire life but I don't really count them for this since I wasn't active in the fandom at the time. I remember exactly what I was doing when I first stumbled across this show. It was 2011-ish and I was sitting in the college cafe bored out of my mind while waiting for my next class to start. I was looking up Power Rangers clips on youtube when I noticed this little show had snuck its way into my recommended feed and I couldn't resist giving it a shot. It probably sounds weird that a Rider show was my entry point into the toku fandom at large when I'm such a big Sentai fan. So please indulge me while I take this little walk down memory lane for its 20th anniversary. Since I'm going all out for this and its an old show: SPOILERS AHEAD! Without further adieu...TATAKAE!!

Shinji Kido is an intern for the ORE Journal. While investigating a series of missing persons incidents, he finds a strange deck. He is attacked by a dragon from inside a window and manages to escape. While trying to save a friend from another monster, he falls into Mirror World. He gets saved by Ren (Kamen Rider Knight) and contracts with the dragon when it shows up to eat him. From there, he gets embroiled in the Rider War while vowing to use his powers to save people from the monsters on top of trying to solve the mystery of this man who only appears in mirrors.

The show features a lot of Riders and its probably got the most (well except for maybe Gaim). Its actually something I find pretty fascinating about the show is that most of the Riders pretty much have their own reasons for fighting in the Rider War. It shows what can go wrong if the wrong person gets ahold of that kind of power. Shinji and Raia are the only ones who aren't out for themselves and even then Raia wants to stop the war out of revenge for the death of his friend. Kanzaki purposefully picked people who would be willing to fight and kill each other just to get their one wish. Because there are so many riders in this show, I'm only gonna go over the major 4 so this will pretty much spoil who the top contenders are in the show.

Shinji Kido...where to begin...the man is my kind of hero. Dude just goes out of his way to help people when he gets the chance. He even outright tries to reason with the other riders and talk them out of fighting each other despite them telling him to fck off. He just can't help but throw himself into a situation that he feels needs to be resolved. On top of that, he can't even bring himself to kill someone in the Rider War. Just the impression of having killed someone was enough to devastate him to point of not wanting to transform again despite the risk of Dragredder eating him. Dude wears every single thought going through his head and every emotion he feels on his sleeve. Its his greatest strength and greatest weakness. You'd better believe that a lot of other riders take advantage of this fact too.

Ren is fighting in the war because his girlfriend is in a coma thanks to Kanzaki's experiments. The man is also...well kind of a dick in early Ryuki. He makes your modern asshole secondary riders look nice by comparison. The man nearly beats Shinji to death in the second episode to take him out of the fight. He is seemingly only stopped from killing him by Yui breaking a window to get his attention and has the nerve to say Shinji owes him the money he spent replacing the window. Despite all his crowing about how Riders can't co-exist, it feels like his heart isn't in it early on so his story is one about finding his resolve.

Kitoaka is a hotshot lawyer who is fighting in the war for one simple reason, he is dying from an incurable disease. He starts out valuing money, luxury, and his own desires because he knows he doesn't have a lot of time left even without the Rider War being a factor. Over the course of the show, he eventually grows and becomes a little more selfless, especially when Asakura gets involved in the Rider War. Something I really dig about how him is how he butts into fights. Its never some flashy or ominous entrance, he just straight up announces his presence by shooting people in the back. Its pretty fitting given his situation, he doesn't have the time to make a show of it.

Asakura is just straight up cold-blooded and he honestly kinda scares me. The idea that someone this unhinged became a rider is terrifying. The man joined the rider war just so he could fight and kill people. He was specifically chosen by Kanzaki for that purpose. He holds a particular dislike for Kitoaka because he played a direct part in putting him in jail. The man makes for a great villain because out of all the riders in the show, he is the one that Shinji absolutely can't even remotely reason with. The man loves dropping bodies too much. The show itself doesn't say what he could wish for but Episode Final (the movie) does. His wish is for the rider war to never end because he is enjoying it that much. I'm so tempted to track down his jacket. Its one of the most iconic looks in Rider imo.

Ryuki has a decent amount of timelines and quite a few endings. You've got the series timeline, two timelines branching from the ending of the 13 riders special, Episode Final's (the movie) timeline, and the Rider Time special continuation that basically ends Ryuki's story. I love this aspect because well...everything in Ryuki seems to be canon in a sense. In the last episode of the tv show, Kanzaki outright says "No matter how many times I do this, it will always end the same". All of the endings are rather bleak except for the tv series ending where the existence of the Rider War itself is undone. Thats probably why the Rider Time special continues from the tv ending instead of simply rebooting it for a new timeline. The Rider Time special is honestly the most fitting ending Ryuki could hope to have. There is no way the Rider War could really end without a lot of death. Its about as "happy" an ending as Ryuki could expect to given the 13 rider special and Episode Final have even bleaker endings. Rider Time's ending is downright chilling once you've seen everything Ryuki related.

Final Thoughts: Ryuki just has this kind of magic to it. Its engrossing from the first episode though I'm not sure how much of it is from the show itself or if its from the fact that except for two episodes, every episode ends on a cliffhanger that blends into the next episode. Either way, its was addictive for me at the time and it still is today this day (I rewatched a chunk of it as a refresher for this review since I've already seen the show twice). I legitimately had to force myself not to binge it. If you haven't seen this show yet, I give it a whole-hearted recommendation.

Kamen Rider Zi-O Review: Changing An Unstoppable Fate

Yeah, yeah, I know I'm way behind the fandom on this particular season but hear me out: The last rider show (other than Amazons) I finished was Gaim back when it first aired so I figured I was due for another one after so long. I was curious about what I was hearing regarding Zi-O back when it was airing so I thought I'd give it a shot. I'm also going to talk about the ending so be warned...SPOILERS AHEAD! Without further adieu: Rejoice for the birth of a new king!

Premise: Sougo Tokiwa is an ordinary high school student whose one dream in life is to be king. One day, he is approached by a girl from the future who tells him that he will indeed become one. The catch? He will be the king whose rise leads the world to destruction and his iron-fisted rule, Oma Zi-O. On top of that, a man from the future is trying to put an end to him. As if all that wasn't enough to fill the life of a wannabe king, some other mysterious people are also intent on screwing with the past to try and change the future for their own gain.

Characters: 

Sougo was honestly kind of meh for me early on but I actually grew to really like him as the show progressed. He is the usual optimistic type of hero that modern rider tends to use. At first he took on Zi-O's powers with the intent to use them to become king like he always dreamed. Naturally, his tune changes as the show goes on and once he sees the future Tsukuyomi and Geiz say he will create, it is devastating to him to the point where he is willing to give up his dream altogether so no one will suffer by his hand. It was great seeing him come to terms with that and fully develop his own idea of what a king should do in order to protect his friends.

Geiz is the man from the future seeking to stop Oma Zi-O's rise even if it means potentially putting Sougo down. He tries to be this really stoic man with a mission character but the man gets rather goofy. At one point, he outright tried to stab Sougo with a piece of bread. As you'd expect he eventually grows to value Sougo as a friend and a person. After Sougo discovers that he will indeed destroy the world one day, Geiz swears to Sougo that he will put him down when that day comes so Sougo can't hurt anyone. He even admits at one point that he was rather eager to see what kind of future this Sougo would create. For some reason he gets a few secondary rider watches which is weird because he pretty much just uses the watches of the main riders like Sougo does.

Tsukuyomi's goal is to stop Oma's rise by monitoring and guiding Sougo so he doesn't become Oma Zi-O. Other than that, she doesn't have any memory beyond the day she joined the fight against Oma Zi-O. Without getting into that little mystery (gotta keep some things hidden in this review), her plot line is sort of what you think it would be. I find it fascinating that at about the halfway point both she and Geiz ended up swapping positions on whether to kill Sougo or change him and it felt pretty natural given how his powers were escalating. Eventually tho, she realizes there isn't much point in worrying about Sougo going dark and goes right back to being on his side.

Keisuke Watanabe is fantastic as Woz and he honestly turns in the best performance in the show. Woz's enthusiasm is downright infectious to the point where around ep 15, I was doing the pose and mouthing the line myself as he does it to the point where it kind of got engraved in my muscle memory. The character just loves what he does and the actor gets that across perfectly. I can absolutely see why he became a meme during Zi-O's run. The man is utterly dedicated to Sougo and the arrival of Oma Day even if it ultimately doesn't turn out like he originally thought it would. His existential crisis in the Hibiki episode was great. The man was devastated by the thought of not being able to celebrate his overlord's birthday properly.

This show pretty much confirms a feeling I've had about Tsukasa since Kamen Rider Taisen. He is much more enjoyable outside of his own show. Something about Tsukasa's schtick just irritated me during Decade itself. He just feels different in his appearances out of Decade. I used to think he was just a dick but now...well...he is still a dick but a more charismatic dick. It helps that the actor likes the role a lot. Its rather fitting that the last rider to have to gather rider powers was there to see the Heisei era out. I'm curious to return to Decade itself at some point to see if how much I like him now changes how I'll see his show.

Villains: 

The main villains in the show are the Time Jackers and like Geiz and Tsukuyomi, they want to stop Oma's rise. However, they want to replace him with a king of their own choosing, hence the creation of the Another Riders. They're kept pretty mysterious for the most part and that honestly might have been a mistake. The show never really goes into much about Uhr and Hora other than that Schwartz plucked them from another timeline. They also don't seem to understand why Schwartz can do things they can't with their powers either after they find out he can grant people the powers they have. Meaning, Schwartz might have granted them their powers and messed with their memories. With that being said, they're alright villains. Schwartz however is the heavy-hitter of the group and the man with the plan. His actor is great and handles the power hungry maniacal bad guy part extremely well once Schwartz gets to cut loose.

Keisuke Watanabe is one of the few actors I can gush about twice in the same review. He plays a dual role for an entire arc. Granted his other role is an alternate timeline version of Woz with all his mannerisms/enthusiasm and a really neat sinister undertone to him. This version of Woz (White Woz) is a supporter of Geiz thanks to a shift causing an alternate timeline to come into being. While he claims the new timeline is said to be a paradise, White Woz himself pretty much implies that its only preferable to Oma's timeline for a chosen few. The implication gives off the sense that if Oma's timeline is pure chaos, Geiz Revive's timeline is more on the pure order side of things.

The Miraiders: There are 4 riders from alternate timelines that show up in Zi-O: Shinobi, Quiz, Kikai, and Ginga. They're really neat what-ifs that fit perfectly well in a time travel show and I love them overall as a concept. Though two of them are meh and one is mostly only interesting to me because he got a miniseries during Zi-O's run. Fittingly, their suits are also made from reused parts of other Heisei rider suits. Three of the four are also portrayed by past Sentai actors.

The one who is only interesting to me because of the special would be Shinobi. As the name implies, he is a ninja-based Rider. I like his design but after seeing his miniseries, I kinda wished I hadn't. Mostly because it was basically a 3-part episode of a show already in progress. So it introduces some stuff that never actually gets resolved in the miniseries because we'll probably never see the character again. It also says that they passed a law called the Ninja Act as a way solve humanity's environmental impact...by teaching people to throw fireballs for some reason. Its fine for what it is just, I dunno, it teases too much about Shinobi's world even tho Toei likely won't make an actual show for him in 2022. I would've preferred an hour long done-in-one special or movie instead of an episode in 3 parts of a show already in progress. He is played by StarNinger from Ninninger.

Quiz is the rider of 2040 and he is easily my favorite even though I'm not a fan of his design or powers. His helmet is a Ghost helmet, his chestpiece is from an Exaid Rideplayer suit and I think the rest of his suit is too. His powers are just weird and I'm not sure why they went with this design and motif as his quiz show schtick doesn't really have anything to do with his character. The writing for his character is fantastic. He is a man who can't let go of the father he never met. His story is one of seeking closure claiming its so his mother can find peace when really, he needs to know why his father left just as much as she does. I would've loved to get a mini-series for him just to see what his world was like. He is played by Red Buster from Gobusters.

Kikai is rather meh as a character and I can't really think of much else to say about him. He basically exists for two reasons: 1. To show Sougo's powers are becoming strong enough to bring new riders into existence and 2. White Woz's plan to try to end Oma's timeline requires 3 Ridewatches that shouldn't exist. His suit is a retooled Guardian suit from Build. Unlike Shinobi and Quiz, his actor previously portrayed a Sentai villain, Zamigo from Lupinranger vs Patranger. Kikai's human outfit is also one big Kikaider homage. He is pretty much the only future rider (except for Shinobi in his mini-series) whose world is actually expanded on.

Ginga is just pure power incarnate and from way in the future, thats about it. The show doesn't really go into much of anything about him. The closest thing the show gets to saying something about him is one character speculating that he might the universe's counterpoint to the power Zi-O has (Zi-O having the power over time and Ginga having power drawn from the cosmos). He is the heavy-hitting big threat that requires the heroes and the Time Jackers to work together which I suppose is all he really needs to be. His helmet is from a Mage suit from Wizard and the rest of it is from Fourze Meteor Fusion States. I'm really not big on his design though I do like the ufo hat. He is voiced by Tomokazu Sugita (Kivat) which makes him right at home in the Another Kiva episodes of Zi-O.

The Ending: I'm talking about the ending here because it fascinates me. SPOILERS AHEAD! The show gives this feeling that Oma Day (the day when Oma Zi-O ends the world) is inevitable...and to my surprise, it actually was. Oma's rise could be delayed, it could be sped up, but it could not be stopped. It had to happen and the best case scenario was to change Sougo just enough to shift it to less of an apocalypse and more of a rebirth for the world and multiverse. The ending winds up being less about trying to stop Sougo from outright becoming Oma Zi-O and more about him deciding to use that power to save those precious to him instead of using it as a way to rule over others. In the end, it all came down to what kind of king Sougo wanted to be.

Final Thoughts: It takes Zi-O about 13 or so episodes to get going and after that, it gets good and I had a lot of fun with it. Once the show finds its footing, it becomes an enjoyable anniversary show. It homages elements and themes of what it was tributing in the first few episodes, follows up some past loose threads, gives closure to some shows that needed it, and most importantly for an anniversary: It made me want to see shows I hadn't seen before. As a matter of fact, the Ghost episodes made me want to revisit the show and give it another chance (which I do plan on doing at some point). It even made me want to check out Kabuto's first few episodes (that one didn't go so well). While not one of my absolute favorites, I enjoyed it quite a bit. This show pretty much managed to change my opinion of Shirakura.

My Thoughts On Kamen Rider Shin, ZO, and J

It occurred to me recently that despite seeing the 90s rider movies, I have never actually given my thoughts on them before. Now you may wonder why I'm covering them all in one post. Well the answer to that is simple: I don't have enough to say on them individually to warrant separate posts.

Shin Kamen Rider Prologue:

I'm rather indifferent to this movie despite how many negatives I'm gonna bring up in this section. The movie drags quite a bit in the beginning to the point where I got kind of bored. It felt like the movie wanted to be a monster/drama movie but delved too much into the drama for my tastes. I also find it laughable that Shin still thought he was a killer even after the obvious mad scientist character basically admitted to being behind it by giving him a lecture about insects having telepathy. The guy wasn't even being subtle about it. The creature effects and gore however were pretty good. Shin's design is rather intimidating and the cyborg looking thing he fights is downright disturbing to me. The most disturbing thing design-wise for me is that Shin's eyes and head never stop pulsing when it does a close-up on his face. I get that this thing was intended to have at least one sequel but there really isn't much pay-off to this movie imo. I dunno, it just felt like they assumed it was gonna do well so they just left too much open for a sequel that as we know never came to be.

Kamen Rider ZO:

The plot is essentially just ZO protecting the son of the scientist who created him from monsters that also resulted from his experiments. The monster's designs are neat and the effects are pretty good. The bat's design is nicely unnerving and creepy. The spider is an amazing piece of stop motion and was done so well that I couldn't tell if it was that or a puppet. Its nicely detailed and creepy like the bat monster. The fights with both the bat and the spider monsters are cool if a bit short but thats understandable due to the run-time of the movie. The Neo Life-form's monster form feels like they reused Shin's design quite a bit. That thing is a nice threat and at times it gave me Terminator vibes. It really felt like it was this unstoppable force of nature. ZO himself is alright, the movie doesn't give him much personality tho so the monsters stood out to me more than he did. The effects throughout the movie were pretty good. Overall, its an ok but fun movie but at the same time it probably would've benefited from being a series instead as I'd have liked to learn more about ZO himself.

Kamen Rider J:

The plot is basically J being given powers to rescue a little girl who is about to be sacrificed by a group of aliens in a ritual that will basically wake up a lot of monsters so they can conquer the planet on behalf of a being known as Fog Mother. The movie has a bit of an environmental message to it as the main reason the protagonist was chosen to become J is that he could "feel the pain of the planet". J also came to the mountains in the first place to document the effects of construction site and the pollution in the lakes resulting from it. The monster designs are cool though the crocodile-looking one is a bit janky in its movements. However, I do find the bee/fly lady a tad too humanoid, a more a slightly more insect-y look would've helped imo. Her fight is also a tad underwhelming compared to the brutality of J fighting the crocodile guy. The fight with Prince Gain is probably the best one in the movie. With that being said, there really isn't much personality to them. The giant battle at the end was cool and the model work was nice. The sets and the effects throughout the movie are pretty solid. Like ZO its an ok but fun movie. However, unlike ZO, I'm ok with this one just being a movie.

Well thats what I thought of the 90's Rider movies. I had fun with ZO and J, Shin I'm rather indifferent on so Shin is my least favorite of the three. I dunno, maybe I'd have been less indifferent about Shin if that sequel had happened and we got a conclusion. I actually rewatched ZO and J's movies after seeing Shin's specifically for this post. The effects in all three were top notch. I'm not sure which one was better between ZO and J. If you haven't seen the 90's rider movies yet, I'd say give them a shot, even Shin.

Kamen Rider Amazons Season Two Review

Yeah you knew this was coming. I despised season one so I was really hoping this would be better. Normally I'd wait until the end to say this but...this was brutal, it was rough to get through. I literally only watched this season because a friend was willing to riff it with me. With that being said, what do I think about it in detail? Just how bad do I think it is? Read on and find out. Its only 13 episodes so...MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD.

Five years have passed since the season one finale. In that time a strange outbreak has been occurring: Humans are now becoming Amazons. We're thrown right into things and introduced to a blue Amazon...Amazon Neo. Yeah thats basically all the setup we get in the first episode. I was legitimately confused at what was going on for the first two episodes because of the time-skip. There are a lot of plots going on this season so I'll just cover the major ones.

Lets get right down to it...I HATE this season. Its worse than season one for me. It took what little I liked about season one and ripped it to pieces. It flat-out ruined the happiness I got from the extermination squad's plot in season one. Mamoru turns evil during the time-skip. He has actively helped in cultivating a new species of Amazons. At first the show plays it up like he is just doing to it to swell his group's numbers so they can defend themselves. Thats understandable given the situation even if it puts the character in a bad light. However, then the show outright admits that Mamoru turned out like this because the extermination squad let him leave. Thats about as cynical as you can get as far as I'm concerned. To top it all of, the end of his plot-line is pretty anti-climactic. Instead of this big dramatic fight with the rest of the squad, the squad ends up killing him accidentally while trying to shoot another Amazon. The show even telegraphs his heel-turn because his first appearance in season two has him wearing all black. I should be heartbroken seeing my favorite character in the show die but all this did was make me angry. This is worse than Kiba's heel-turn in Faiz for me. At least I sort of understood why Kiba turned evil and got to see the transformation on-screen.

I'm gonna come right out and say it, I don't like Jin. However, he did not deserve a single thing that happened to him this season. This was the equivalent of kicking someone in the stomach while they're already laying on the ground. His entire plot this season just has this air of cruelty around it. The man has to butcher his own family in order to stop this outbreak. It would've been merciful if Jin died at the end of this season but sadly, this show does not know the meaning of the word mercy. Jin's actor is also way too good for this show. The show isn't very well written but both Jin and Hiroki's actors give it their all when they're on-screen. I honestly wish the show was better because it feels like the show wasted their performances. Haruka himself really doesn't add much to this season so I can't really say much about him other than that he is back to just hunting Amazons that harm humans. He just kind of shows up to help hunt down the sources of the outbreak. He feels like he was included just because he is supposed to be the overall hero of Amazons...granted I'm using the word hero loosely.

I really don't care about Chihiro and Iyu's plot-line. It doesn't feel like it adds much to me. Not to mention once the show reveals that Chihiro is not only Jin's son but also one of the sources of the new Amazon outbreaks, this plot-line becomes irrelevant as far as I'm concerned. At the end of the day, they both HAVE to die to end this outbreak. Both leads of season two absolutely cannot survive because if they do, more people will die. I know I said Jin didn't deserve what happened to him but neither does Chihiro...he has to die simply because he exists. I don't even like Chihiro and this bugs me. This and the Mamoru stuff makes this entire season even more cynical than season one for me. However, I do get it, both this and Mamoru's plot-line are trying to be complex and offer no easy answer, I just wish the show had handled these two plots better. There isn't a single ounce of happiness in this season to make up for it as far as I'm concerned. Even the final battle of this show just feels like a cruel joke. I'll get to that in a little bit...but for now, lets talk about the visuals.

This season does actually have some practical effects but there honestly isn't enough of them compared to the CGI. The CGI is even more awful than season one. There is a five minute massacre where Chihiro goes berserk and butchers an entire squad. There is so much bad CGI in that scene that it took me and a friend of mine more than 15 minutes to watch it because we kept pausing and laughing at the CGI. My favorite bad effect though is that there is a weapon that can obliterate any Amazon that it hits. The effect is so bad that it looks like it turns them into orange juice. These effects are so bad that I legitimately have to ask who on the staff looked at them and said "thats good enough, use it".

The Amazon Neo suit is meh. Its a nice shade of blue and I do like the contrast with the red highlights but thats about it. It looks slightly like a mix of of Alpha and Omega but it still looks a bit too cybernetic so it doesn't read as an Amazon suit at first glance. I also don't care for how the driver looks. Sadly Neo also relies on a sword to cut and slash when he should be using his claws so the cybernetic aspect kind of takes away from the impact of the show for me.

The New Omega suit is just awful. You know what I think when I think Amazon? Cybernetics and machines...no...just no. This takes my problem with the default Omega suit and just doubles down on it. The silver, green, red, yellow, and black don't blend very well. The driver also looks a little distracting on this suit to me. It might look better if the driver was a shade of green or silver. The form itself is also utterly useless to the show's story. I'd understand it if the belt makes him stronger but it doesn't feel like it. I don't even understand why Omega is the one to get the new form when its not even remotely his story this season. This is the worst design in all of Amazons as far as I'm concerned.

Despite all my complaining, I do have one positive for this season other than the hilariously awful CGI. Its the Rose Amazon. His design is actually pretty good and his story is pretty solid as well. He fights solely by decapitating people. I like his story because he was having his girlfriend bring him victims so he could control his urge to eat her. Its actually pretty heartbreaking for me because for one moment, we see the full extent of this effect from the Amazon's point-of-view. His girlfriend gets mortally wounded and she lets him eat her before she dies. We do actually get some interesting tactics used by some of the Amazons this season in general.

The action in the show is underwhelming to say the least. I don't actually remember very many of the moves in most of the fights. Its also not edited very well. In one fight scene there are legitimately 10-12 different cuts of Omega throwing a single punch. I do not envy the editor for this show. The fight physics are also kind of iffy during one of Chihiro's rampages...blood spatter doesn't line up with the angle of how he cut them. In one instant, a soldier he slashes also flies in a direction thats physically impossible given how he hit them. Though I will give the show a bit of credit. Jin got blinded by Haruka during the time-skip so he sort of fights like a blind man. Now for the final battle in the show...

Hope you like that picture cuz thats seriously all you get from that fight. The final battle of the season, the showdown its been building to...happens off-screen. We don't even get to see Chihiro die despite him being the main character this season. I sat through this season thinking that at the very least I might enjoy the final battle and nope...off-screen. This was beyond disappointing and its the most anti-climactic thing I've ever seen.

This season...it was even less fun than season one. I just...felt sad, angry, and empty after watching it. I shouldn't feel like this after watching tokusatsu. I went into this season expecting it to be bad and cynical...but not this bad. It doubled down on the depressing tone of season one. If I wasn't riffing it with a friend, I probably wouldn't have even watched it. The friend who was riffing it with me sounded like I did when I finished Megaforce. This season had so many plot-lines that I couldn't even cover them all in this review. Now, all my complaining aside, I am up for seeing the movie for two reasons: 1. I'm always up for shredding horribly written cynical shows and 2. I've seen the first two parts so I might as well see how it ends. Overall, this is still my least favorite rider show and I still dislike it more than Faiz.

My Kamen Rider Concepts

Sorry for not posting for a while, I had a lot of issues with my laptop these last 6 months. Anyway, thats not the point. Naturally when you're watching something, you tend to get influenced by it. Sometimes those influences spiral out into ideas. Before you know it, you're bringing those ideas together and creating your own show/character concepts. I tend to take inspiration not just from toku but from anime as well. I'd like to share some of toku concepts with you all. I'll give the basic description of the premise and then list their powers.

Kamen Rider Transer (placeholder name): The Oroboros Council is dedicated to researching the Philosopher's Stone. Their research has pretty much led them down a dark road. To try and further their research, they kidnap a man for one specific purpose: They want to see if human transmutation will lead them to the stone. They kill him and use alchemy to bring him back thinking that at the very least they'll get a new servant out of it. However, something went wrong with the transmutation and he ended up keeping his free will and gained the ability to use alchemy himself. He is a homunculous and due to the partial failure of the transmutation, his body is slowly disintegrating. He has to seek out the stone himself to trying and repair his body. His final form uses the power of the stone and uses his own body as fuel for the transformation, effectively speeding up the breakdown.

His main weapon is a spear that is basically transmuted from whatever material is on-hand and it fades when the transformation is undone. He can change the composition of the metal to give it different properties. Essentially the overall theme I'm going for here is what it means to be human. There is no secondary rider for this concept at the moment because I couldn't think of a way to implement one. I'm thinking of making the council's monster forms rider-like. If you haven't guessed yet, this one was primarily inspired by Fullmetal Alchemist.

Kamen Rider Justice (placeholder name): This was sort of inspired by the detective aspect of W. This one is essentially just a cop rider and his team investigating a mafia-like organization called the Helix Syndicate. Helix's whole deal is that they alter their genetic structure to make it easier to commit crimes. This one doesn't have a gimmick since I wanted to take a page from Faiz and have him be more gadget based. His support staff studies the data from the monsters he fights and makes counter-measures for them. His main weapons are a lazer pistol and an electrified nightstick. His fighting-style is more active and melee intensive (cuz I'm a big Dekaranger fan). He basically uses the nightstick like a tonfa to block attacks and counters with a few shots from the lazer pistol or pistol-whipping them. His second form is basically a crowd control form accessed through a brace called the Riot Buster. It basically generates a riot shield for him. His final form is an armored SWAT/high firepower form. It is something along the lines of G3 from Agito and needs a power source separate from the belt. The secondary rider is called Mimic. He is basically an undercover cop infiltrating Helix and he uses their splicing technology to make his belt. As for Helix, the regular members splice themselves to gain the powers of animals while the higher-ups have elemental powers.

Kamen Rider Grim: This one basically spawned from a simple thought: A scythe is a cool weapon. It spiraled out from there. As the name suggests, he basically acts as a grim reaper. He ferries the souls of the dead to the next world while dealing with corrupted/evil spirits that threaten the living. My plan is to introduce 3 other riders, each one based on different concepts of death from other countries so there will be others showing up. Each rider's powers and weapon changes depending on the reaper. For the reapers, there will be a chinese-inspired one whose weapons are bladed fans and there is a gunslinger whose powers manifest twin revolvers that fire purple flames. Strangely Grim is the first reaper in centuries whose powers manifest a scythe. There is no gimmick for this rider. I've actually got a henshin sequence planned out for this rider. He puts the Skull Driver on and hits a button on the side. The skull's mouth opens and shoots out purple flames. The flames engulf his body and cool to form the suit. He holds out his hand and the smoke from the flames forms the scythe. I unfortunately don't have any forms planned for this rider at the moment, if you can think of any please suggest them in the comments.

Kamen Rider Pantheon: This is my most developed one so pardon me if this gets a little long. Centuries ago, Hades led the Titans in a war against the Greek Gods. In order to end the war to protect mankind, the gods summoned all their powers to seal away Hades and the Titans. This came with a great cost. The gods were stripped of their powers and their powers crystallized into gemstones. Fearing the Titans would return, the goddess Athena had Hephaestus forge a weapon to combat them: The Pantheon Driver. The man rider is a man haunted in his dreams by memories of lives he is not sure he has even lived. He finds a red gemstone and hears a voice calling out to him. He gets attacked by a Demi (human corrupted by the Titans and given the powers/forms of monsters from greek myths). Before the monster can kill him, he is transported to a room filled with white light. There Athena gives him the Pantheon Driver.

His forms are based around the four elements: Apollo (Fire), Poseidon (Water), Gaia (Earth), and Aeros (Wind). His final form is of course accessed through the Zeus gem and gives him power over lightning. Apollo gives him control over fire. Poseidon form lets him control water and gives him a trident that lets him freeze it. Gaia form is kind of heavy and hard to move in so he has to manipulate the ground underneath him to fight more effectively. Aeros form lets him fly and fire blasts of compressed air or use it to enhance his punches/kicks. This form is a little weaker physically than the others but its mobility makes up for that. Zeus is his most powerful form and it basically electrifies his punches and kicks. Its basically a hand-to-hand combat form. Its so powerful that every time he uses it, it electrocutes him if he uses it for too long. There are two secondary riders, one empowered by the Ares gem and one empowered by the Athena gem. Ares has enhanced strength and fights with a sword while Athena can glimpse echoes of the future and fights with a shield. The over all idea with these two is that they fight as a team. The Titans' powers have diminished over the years. They're seeking out the gemstones themselves to restore their lost power. There is also a dark rider empowered by the Hades gem. He basically has power over black flames.

Those are all I have so far. I do have a few more but they're not developed enough to warrant mentioning at the moment. I may do a post on the full Pantheon concept. If you've got your own riders, I'd love to see them so feel free to post them in the comments.

My Updated Kamen Rider Rankings

Since I did an updated list for Sentai, I figured its time to do an updated one for Kamen Rider. Keep in mind that I've been more into Sentai than rider. So there probably isn't gonna be as many new series on this list. With that being said, there has been a slight shift since last time so I guess a new list is warranted. Since the last one, I've finished Gaim and Amazons. Drive and Ghost will not be talked about because I dropped both of them before the 25 episode mark. Den-O will not be mentioned even though I saw half of it since I haven't seen any more of it since the last list. With that out of the way, lets get right down to it.

7. Kamen Rider Amazons:

It took a while but I finally found a series I dislike more than Faiz. Yes, that is a big statement to make since only season one is done and its only 13 episodes. It tries so hard to be dark, edgy, and serious that it ends up being overly angst-y. I don't tend to like the "Life sucks, deal with it!" mentality in superhero shows unless its done really well. It got to the point where I was only watching it to riff it with a friend. Pretty much the main positive I have for this series so far is Alpha's suit. Omega's bike is the most irritating bike I've seen so far. It will not stop roaring whenever its on screen. After a while, my friend and I were constantly telling it to shut up whenever it showed up. Its also this extremely generic lion roar even though the bike is lizard themed. The fight scenes were outright boring and lacked any sense of brutality which is pretty bad for a modern take on Amazon. It doesn't really feel like the show has any weight to it. I legitimately don't expect Mamoru to survive season two and I'm honestly a bit surprised he survived season one given how bleak the tone was.

6. Kamen Rider Faiz, Decade, and Kiva:

Yeah, all three share the same spot but I'll start with Faiz. I've actually softened up a bit on it this series since the last list. It does have some good ideas but the execution makes some of them frustrating. The drama built around misunderstandings or mis-communications still annoys me because it can be solved so easily. I still love the rider suit and monster designs. I love all the little gadgets that the belts have. I get what they were trying to do with Kiba's heel-turn near the end but it really could've been handled better. It comes off as a bit annoying and its placed at a bit of a bad spot for me given everything that happens near the end. I like the Orphenocs in concept but the execution was kind of lacking. I also kind of wish they had a little more variety in their color scheme.

I still don't like Decade and my thoughts on it haven't changed much from last time. I still think it gets lost in all the world hopping to the point where it forgets the driving force of the show. It also doesn't help that the show doesn't have a concrete ending. Due to that, it left so many questions unanswered. In a way, thats good because it means an infinite number of stories to tell and its a way to always bring Tsukasa back for cameos. However, the downside is that those stories can be kinda tainted because well its Decade. Any questions that the Decade movie and the crossover with W answer vary between the two. So we really don't get to know a lot regarding Decade. I still have no idea what Narutaki is.

I'm about 2/3 of the way through Kiva. So why is it being ranked? Its because I don't think the last third is going to be able to change my opinion of the show all that much, especially given what I've heard happens near the end. It falls into a lot of the same pitfalls as Faiz. So much so that an entire love triangle is built on miscommunication. I can't stand Otoya and he is probably going to end up on my least favorite rider character list whenever I redo it. Pretty much the only things I like about it at this point are the suits and the music. With that being said, Kiva's default suit should've been sent back to the drawing board. I like its design but its the weight thats the problem. It apparently caused the suit actor to have back problems because most of the weight is in the chest. I absolutely love the stained glass look for the Fangires.

5. Kamen Rider Wizard:

I'm still very mixed on this series. I liked the aesthetics, particularly the designs for most of Wizard's forms, and some of the background music. The battle music sounds, for lack of a better phrase, like a magical symphony. The main form I don't like design-wise is Infinity due to it looking too plastic-y. There are some nice ideas in the show but the execution is questionable. Its one of the few shows I've seen where a villain reveal has shattered one of the fundamental rules of its universe and nearly made the plot collapse in on itself. I don't really remember much action-wise outside of some sword-play. Also if you notice, Wizard never actually throws a punch in his fight scenes. I'm guessing its because they didn't want to break the rings on his hands.

4. Kamen Rider Gaim:

I like this show, not as much as I did when I first finished it but I enjoyed it for what was. I'm indifferent on the suits with the exception of Pineapple Arms. The flopping shoulder pads can get distracting. Other suits have that problem as well but it is a lot more noticeable on pineapple arms. At one point, Pineapple Arms shoulder pads swung and bounced off the chest-plate of the suit. With that being said, I think the shoulder pads for Ryugen Grape Arms look good. The dueling philosophies are a nice touch but unfortunately, some don't get touched on much. The other downside is that due to the number of riders, some get shoved to the side. I'm actually one of the people in the fandom who is glad Micchi didn't die. In my opinion, it would've been him getting off too easy. He has to live with what he has done and with his friends no longer trusting him. The show flat out admits that he burned a few bridges that he might never be able to repair.

3. Kamen Rider W:

I enjoyed this show a lot and my opinions of it haven't actually changed much from the last list. I love the detective style it has to it. The Dopant designs are great and they are able to capture some of the more abstract concepts will in their designs. Some of them have a nice of nightmare fuel to them. The action is absolutely fantastic. I still love the mix and match ability for the form changes. Luna Trigger is still my favorite out of all W's forms. Museum is probably one of my favorite villain organizations. Weather Dopant is probably my favorite villain in the show. The dude manages to hit Long levels of creepy for me. Shotarou and Philip play off of each other rather well and I liked Accel's subplot. Philip's search pose has actually become my thinking pose. The rider suits for the show look great, especially all of W's forms. They really made sure the colors for all W's forms worked regardless of combination.

2. Kamen Rider Ryuki:

One of the more divisive early heisei series but I like it. I will admit its a heavily flawed show and I don't really defend its flaws that much. So why is it ranked this high for me despite being so flawed? Honestly, I can't put my finger on why I like it that much. Something about the show just speaks to me. I just can't help but look back on it fondly even knowing all its problems. I like the mirror beasts designs. I like that it shows what happens when people the wrong people get a hold of this kind of power which is honestly an interesting idea even if it likely wasn't the show's goal. I still like how each episode ends on a cliff hanger and leads directly into the next episode. Granted it does making marathon-ing it rather difficult since there really isn't a clear point to take a break from it. I'm still indifferent to the ending. I like all the rider suits except for Zolda's which is hilarious because he is actually my favorite rider in Ryuki.

1. Kamen Rider Fourze:

Yeah this one has over-taken Ryuki since last time. This show just hits that sweet spot for me and it really makes me happy. I know a lot of people in the fandom will say that it lays on the friendship stuff too thick. At its core however, I see it as a show about how one person can help people through their problems. I think the high school setting works well with that as well. The Kamen Rider Club is probably my favorite group of characters out of all the rider series I've seen so far. I love the designs for the Zodiarts with Sagittarius being my favorite of them. I like the rider suits in the show with Meteor Storm being the main exception. The helmet looks so weird to me that while watching the show I began referring to Meteor Storm as "Pikachu States". Cosmic States is still my favorite rider final form because I like how it ties all the switches together and sums up Gentaro's personality.

Kamen Rider Amazons Season One Review (Episodes 1-13)

When this was first announced, I was hyped because I loved what I saw of the Showa Amazon. I thought Alpha's suit was awesome when it was revealed but didn't care at all for Omega's suit. Then I saw the trailer and my first thought was "This feels like Kamen Rider The First and The Next". Not a good first impression. How did the show actually turn out for me? Read on and find out. Since its only 13 episodes, I will have to do spoilers. So with that said: SPOILERS INCOMING!

This show lacks color. Everything looks so muted because of the grey filter they put on the footage. I get that the filter is supposed to make it look like an early heisei series but even in those early series we had lots of bright color. Its makes the show sort of uninteresting to look at. The color palette is also too limited, mostly featuring red, green, grey, and black. I can't tell you how happy I was to see some blue because of how badly the filter muted everything. It also mutes certain details on the Amazons because of the color of the suits in certain shots. The picture below is the best example I could find. The Amazons in the background are missing a lot of details compared to the ones in the foreground because of the way the filter shows the color black. The Amazon in the middle of the picture actually has purple on her chest-plate but you can't see it outside of close-ups because of the filter.

A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled across some magazine scans of the show. The difference between those scans and the show is astounding. The scans made the show look so bright and lively. This is a tokusatsu and I expect to see lots of colors like that.

The show itself is depressing, more depressing than Faiz for me. The show is also so edgy its not even funny. It feels like its so wrapped up in trying to be dark and mature that it actually ends up being kind of childishly angst-y. Early on it kept repeating that its impossible for Haruka to live without killing someone. This is despite the fact Haruka's own backstory shows that is possible. Its just done to reinforce that fighting is the only logical thing to do in this show. It also really doesn't help that the show takes every chance to throw Haruka's naive outlook back in his face. To make matters worse, in the season finale, Haruka basically admits that Jin is right about needing to kill to survive. Then he immediately says that Jin might be wrong and there might be another way. So he basically went right back to where he was when he first got his powers. I can handle a dark show if its done well and gives me some moments of happiness and admittedly, Amazons did indeed give me a couple. It gave me one in episode 11 but then it snatched it away from me at the very end of the episode. Mamoru basically goes feral because of an accident that happened in episode 9 and its only revealed via flashback after a legitimately happy moment. I'll get more into that in a bit. The finale did give me a nice moment of the extermination squad being brought back together but I've got a feeling season two is going to snatch that moment away as well. Its far too cynical of a show in my opinion. I get that its trying to be realistic but the lack of optimism is staggering. Its essentially ignoring that not everyone in the real world is so cynical and beaten down.

The show has brought up a comparison between the humans and amazons quite a bit and well the comparison doesn't exactly work. It outright fails in episodes 7 and 8 because they draw the comparison with a human who is a serial killer and an Amazon who merely can't control himself. The Amazon even regrets that he is starting to lose control of himself while the human takes joy in outright murdering people. It falls apart when they kill the Amazon but let the human serial killer get away with no consequences whatsoever. They outright say that the only reason he gets to live is because he is human. This was after he nearly beat a member of their team to death. If that is the justification for letting him live then there was no point in contrasting the two characters in my opinion. The show is trying to sound much more deep and profound than it actually is. Its particularly evident whenever the show brings up the aquarium metaphor in regards to Haruka.

I can't get into the action of the show. Not only is the fight choreography sub-par but it doesn't feel like there is any power behind the hits. Most of the fights in the show just look off because of that. There are also spots where the timing for the impact sound effects is off. At certain points it doesn't even look like a hit connects. If you've got an eye for fights, noticing stuff like that can get distracting. Normally the camera work is supposed to hide stuff like this. It doesn't help that the show isn't even that brutal and it actually avoids a lot of the gore. It goes out of its way to hide the brutality a lot of times by having the camera cut somewhere else or zoom out so you can't see it. Even worse though, what gore it does show is done in unconvincing CGI so I can't really count it as gore because it doesn't feel or look like its really there. Its effectively based on the Showa Amazon, one of the most brutal shows I've seen and yet Amazons lacks the bite the original show had to it. I get that its not a show made as a tv production but I was expecting more practical effects in the fights.

The Sigma stuff pretty much amounts to nothing in my opinion other than just to be there for a twist. The show tries to play up how important he was to the team when he was alive without actually showing how important he was to the team. It really doesn't help that the scene they keep showing in flashbacks is his death in episode 2. Sigma's whole chess metaphor didn't work for me either. The metaphor would've worked out better if he was out-thinking his opponent instead of just over-powering them imo. I like Mamoru but he started annoying me during the Sigma stuff. Granted, it did lead to a legitimately happy moment of Mamoru using the teams motto of working for whoever pays them to get them to fight alongside Omega again. It was a rather nice moment in my opinion. Then they undercut that with the flashback I mentioned earlier. He basically ate a burger made of human meat during a fight at an Amazon restaurant in episode 9 thinking it was a regular burger. It felt like a really forced way to add more drama. It would've worked a little better in my opinion to have his armlet run out.

This season felt padded and I honestly don't think the corporate side of things added all that much. Even though it was half the show, it felt like it was there just to provide a justification for the Amazons existence. It plays out almost exactly like you'd expect, right down to Haruka's backstory and it essentially being revealed that its not an accident that the Amazons got released into the city. I'd have personally down-played the corporate aspect and focused more on the extermination squad. The season's run time also diminished drastically going from around 45 minutes to roughly 30 minutes over the course of 13 episodes. Granted it went back to 40 minutes in the season finale. Even with the cuts to the run-time, it still felt padded. I really don't think they knew what to do with all that time.

Now for the visuals. I find most of the Amazons suits uninteresting to look at. They do capture their animals decently but again, the filter and lack of variety in the color palette hurt the look of the suits. Lots of red, green, brown, and black. As I said before, the filter they're using really doesn't do this color palette many favors. As for the rider's suits, I don't care for Omega or Sigma that much.

My main problem with Omega's suit is that it looks too sleek and robotic. It feels too much like a modern rider design. It doesn't look animalistic enough for me which is kind of a problem. It lacks that whole "be afraid" vibe. I think they over-shot the mark while to modernize the Amazon suit. I get the in-story reason why it looks like that and I get that its supposed to show the personality contrast between him and Alpha. It just doesn't feel like an updated Amazon. It feels more like a current Heisei rider.

Alpha's look is probably the best of the three rider suits. I can easily look at this and immediately get that its an updated Amazon. It has this nice savage and scarred appearance. Using the SIC design was a great idea. I particularly like the green scars and they compliment the red scales nicely and so do the green eyes.

Sigma's suit is meh overall. The bone-y scales are an ok touch and I do like the purple eyes. My major problem with it though is the color scheme. The silver would be nice on its own but the way it fades into the red looks off to me and I can't quite figure out why. I do like that it has a visible mouth on it and it may have been slightly move-able. With that being said, I don't care for it being a repainted version of Omega's original Amazon form. I've got this weird feeling that Sigma wasn't actually planned from the beginning. Not shown in the picture but the filter reacts weirdly with his suit as it makes the silver look green-ish in some shots.

This season was not fun. It was boring, annoying, and depressing. Its one of those times where I probably should've listened to my gut feeling. I'm not even kidding when I say that the only reason I kept watching was because I had friends who were willing to watch with me. I was also able to call most of the twists by episode 3. Its a problem for me because I'm kinda dense when it comes to tv shows. If I can figure it out that soon, it means the show isn't hiding its mysteries that well. If other people enjoy it, more power to them, I just can't stand the show as it stands right now and I hope it improves during season two. I also hope they drop the grey filter next season. My overall verdict for this season: Predictable, boring, depressing, and overly cynical. With season one having ended, I think I might actually dislike this show more than Faiz.

My Favorite Kamen Rider Characters

Well since I did a least favorite/most aggravating Kamen Rider characters list, I think its time I do one that is more positive. Time to show you all the characters I look up to or think it would be cool to just hangout with.

4. Shotaro and Philip from W:

Of course the hard-boiled detective pair was going to make this list. These two hold the same spot because they legitimately feel like one whole character to me and they have some great chemistry. The way they play off of each other is fun to watch. Shotaro is the goofier of the two with Philip being the more naive one. Shotaro is also the more rash of the two with Philip having to provide a bit of insight and thought during some of the early fights. Philip apparently has a habit of getting engrossed in researching things to the point where its all he can think about until he knows everything about it. Both of their roles are actually summed up rather well in the end of the Money Dopant arc.

3. Kouta from Gaim:

I like him because of his ideals. He believes in a world where you don't have to step on other people to get what you want out of life. The man is a true hero as even in the face of terrible odds and danger he does not deter from his chosen path. Its was nice seeing him grow as a fighter and hero as well as finding his own reason for fighting other than just helping his friends. Even in the darkest of times, he never gave up hope, even going so far as to sacrifice his very humanity to save the world. Seeing everything he went through was sort of heart-breaking but it makes him very endearing to me. He is also pretty forgiving and understanding when it comes his friends. He forgave Micchi even though Micchi essentially tried to sell out the entire human race when Helheim invaded.

2. Kiba from Faiz:

Now you're probably thinking "Wait! Why is a Faiz character here? You don't like Faiz!"but hear me out. Faiz was a dreary and depressing show for me but Kiba was the one ray of hope in the show and he is the main thing I am still able to like about Faiz. Kiba was a guy who lost everything. His parents died in the car crash that left him in a coma and while he was in the coma, his girlfriend left him. The guy basically died during the coma and became something that was no longer human, yet the man still found the will to cope with his new situation. When other Orphenochs carelessly tossed away their humanity and kept telling him to let go of his, he refused to do so. He stuck to his ideal of "I may be dead but I'm still human". He even went so far as to urge fledgling Orphenocs to hold on to what they once were and telling them that they were only monsters if they chose to be. Unfortunately, Inoue made him do a complete 180 during the final arc that made no sense given who Kiba was. I like to remember him for what he was before that though. In light of his actor's death, my thoughts go out to his friends, family, and fans. I thoroughly enjoyed his performance. He shall be missed.

1. Gentaro from Fourze:

You all had to have seen this coming. If you know me then you know just how much I love this character. The guy is just a fun overly energetic goofball who likes making friends. He is the ideal of friendship personified and he fits the message of Fourze perfectly. Gentaro is what I view the meaning of friendship to be. He is always there for anyone no matter what their problems are. He shows how friendship can help even the most messed up of people. Take the kids at Ama High for example, a lot of them were going through some very bad problems even if they didn't physically show it. Some of them sought out the switches power as a way to solve their problems. Gentaro saw the problems they were going through and helped them through it even if they had just tried to kill him. He never gave up on any of them. That is true friendship right there. Some people will complain that Gentaro doesn't grow as a person but in all honesty, it is fine that he stays the same. It isn't his role to be changed by people, his entire purpose is to help others grow and overcome their problems.

Toku Injustices: The Death of Birugenia in Kamen Rider Black

Hello everyone and welcome to the beginning of a series of opinion pieces called “Toku Injustices.” The main topic of these opinion pieces is that I look at something that happened in a Toku show (whether good or bad it doesn’t matter) and basically talk about why I found it either unfair, confusing, or just something that shouldn't of happened at all. 

(What's the deal...)

In this post I will talk about something that happened in one of my favorite kamen rider series of all time, Kamen Rider Black.  Now this post will contain some spoilers so for those who haven’t seen and Kamen Rider Black yet and don’t want to know some things I suggest that you stop now, unless you are interested.  In that case read at your own risk.

Now let me start by saying I really love Kamen Rider Black I find it to be one of the best examples of what Kamen Rider should be about.  It has a very appealing protagonist in Kotaro Minami who we instantly feel sorry for and root for as he not only battles the Gorgom but also has to fight his brainwashed stepbrother Nobuhiko Akizuki aka Shadow Moon.  I enjoyed the Gorgom a lot as not only do they have a lot of history but also it’s the cult like structure of them, the mixture of magic and technology, that not only makes them frightening to look at but interesting as well.  

(All of this I love so much)

As the series progressed the Three Priests weren’t getting the job done, so the Century King being impatient and running out of options decided to release a threat to not only Kotaro but to the Gorgom themselves.  That threat being Birugenia the warrior of 30,000 years ago who like Nobuhiko and Kotaro was born on a solar eclipse but unlike them was not given a Kingstone.  That rejection made him angry and want to revolt against the Century King and the Gorgom, this action was the reason for him being sealed.

(Holy crap who are you?)

Birugenia was always an interesting and dangerous villain because he had his own motives and agenda.  He wasn’t really a team player with the Gorgom High Priests and would even interfere with their plans just for his own benefit.  His own benefit being wanting to kill Kotaro and take his Kingstone for himself.  Birugenia would also attack Kotaro where it hurt the most, the people close to him.  That made Birugenia a terrifying presence in Kamen Rider Black and character the show needed in my opinion to provided a surge of energy and potential.  However it is with this character that an injustice occurred.

The injustice is that he died in Episode 35 at the hands of the resurrected Shadow Moon anti-climatically.  

(Just Like that he is gone...wait what?)

What?  Why do this?  Birugenia was doing awesome as a villain.  Birugenia did so much in the show in the 18 episodes he was in that to simply kill him off so easily was disappointing.  Some of the things Birugenia did were as I said before  personal attacks against Kotaro, kidnapping the creator of Kotaro’s Road Sector to make his own version of the bike, the Hellshooter (yes he gets his own rider bike!), to stealing the Satan Saber.  

(Birugenia with Hellshooter)

I understood the purpose of Birugenia’s death was to show how strong Shadow Moon was and how the threat level has increased.  Which  is fine, however to simply kill off the only main villain who was active enough to actually confront Kotaro head on and how easily he was killed is unsatisfying  and took away some interesting story lines that could of been pursued.  The way I would of done showing how powerful Shadow Moon’s presence is and also keeping Birugenia around they could have had Shadow Moon beat the crap out of Birugenia having the prideful warrior on his knees.  Sort of like what Tranza did in Jetman to Radiguet.  

(Something like this could've happened.)

Why couldn’t they have kept Birugenia on the show and have him interact with Shadow Moon another person with a Kingstone.  Wouldn’t of that been interesting to watch, every moment Birugenia would be on screen would be tense because at any moment something could happen.  Birugenia always wanted a Kingstone, it doesn’t necessarily have to be Kotaro’s Kingstone, it could have been Nobuhiko’s Kingstone as well.  With Birugenia still on the show with Shadow Moon, you would have a lot of story possibilities, like Birugenia sabotaging plans Shadow Moon would have, working in the background plotting a Coup d'état, maybe even have an episode where after confronting Shadow Moon Kotaro is beaten badly and in his moment of weakness is being hunted down by Birugenia after his Kingstone, have Birugenia’s Coup d’état fail and in his last moment of desperation fight Kotaro for his Kingstone, or even when Black does beat Shadow Moon and in Shadow Moon’s moment of weakness Birugenia kills him and steals his Kingstone.  Those are just some ideas that Kamen Rider Black could've done with Birugenia. 

(Hope nothing bad happens to you Shadow Moon like...)

(Kingstone Birugenia?)

            For me personally I loved Birugenia, loved what he brought to the table, loved what he did, loved how well his actor, Jun Yoshida portrayed him (for more info on how awesome Jun Yoshida is check out this blog post by Shougo B’Stard), and I wish he had stayed around to be the final villain or even just one of the final big bads Kotaro had to face before fighting Shadow Moon.  Something along those lines I think would have brought Kamen Rider Black to its full potential.  Now despite what I wanted Birugenia dying isn't the worst thing to happen in Tokusatsu.  Despite me sounding harsh and bitter towards the death I was okay with Birugenia dying, it didn't ruin the series it was just not the approach that I would of taken. I still love Kamen Rider Black from beginning to end but the death of Birugenia is one of the missteps the show took and turned the show from amazing to great.  Had Birugenia still been alive I feel the show and the conflicts would of been a lot more interesting to watch because now we have the two Century Kings and the wild card the rejected Century King all having their battles.  On the injustice scale, Birugenia's death is just a meh, it wasn't what I think Kamen Rider Black should've done but I am overall okay with it.

What does everyone else think of Birugenia, do you agree with my “injustice” towards the character, okay with what happened, or disagree overall with my thoughts?  Leave a comment below with your thoughts.  Also comment if you would like this to be a reoccurring series of opinion pieces that you would be interested in seeing.